I think the answer is simple. They thought Hicks, Siraj and Cesario are more promising.

And we all know how that turned out.

In USFS' defense all three of those skaters scored higher than Edmunds' result. But then Edmunds had one less element in the FS and was restricted on the choice of elements in the SP. And senior marks were inflated, relative to the junior marks.

Why are Junior Nationals held at the same time as Senior Nationals? It's just ridiculous. If you want to compete at Junior Worlds, you should prove you are able to skate two Junior programmes to a high standard. What is even the point of having Junior Nationals when you'll just pick the highest placed age eligible skaters from the Senior ones? And it's not fair to Junior skaters who don't 'benefit' from the crazy 'inflation.'

I don't see the need to separate junior and senior Nationals for the sake of making Jr World selection easier. 9-10 times, the choices are the correct ones.

The Jr. USA champion is almost always guaranteed a spot at Jr Worlds- the only other exception in recent times being Alexe Gilles; they're passed over only when the talent pool is exceptionally large. The best junior-eligle skaters are already competing against each other in their respective divisions at Nationals.

Edmunds was only passed over because she hadn't been sent to the JGP and was thus missing a minimum score. JGP selection is something much more worthy of discussing and overhauling given that incident and of course the case of Gold missing initial selection and ending up with only 1 event 2 years ago.

I don't know what her past history is, but if this week is anything to judge by, she's where she needs to be right now. I know she still looks a bit juniorish, but she also clearly has uncommon musicality, and she's able to keep up with the technical demands of a senior program. Her use of her arms, and her ability to execute the little extra steps and grace notes that Klimova put into her program, show that she can become a truly complete skater. I don't know whether she'll get a place on this year's Olympic team, because things are agonizingly confusing thanks to Ashley's fourth-place finish, but one way or another she deserves a place on the world stage. I know that people have been getting excited about Julia Lipnitskaya this year, and I enjoyed her Schindler's List program a great deal, but even she didn't touch me the way Edmunds did with that Grieg long program yesterday evening. There's something amazing there, and I hope she continues to grow and improve.

I totally agree! I'm in awe of this young talent. I think USFSA made the right decision in choosing Polina instead of Mirai. Neither of them would have a chance to medal in Sochi but these Olympics could be invaluable to a skater like Polina who has tremendous potential and could fight for a medal in 2018 Olympics.

I totally agree! I'm in awe of this young talent. I think USFSA made the right decision in choosing Polina instead of Mirai. Neither of them would have a chance to medal in Sochi but these Olympics could be invaluable to a skater like Polina who has tremendous potential and could fight for a medal in 2018 Olympics.

funny. Mirai came so close to medaling in Vancouver. We all thought Mirai had tremendous potential 4yrs ago also.. look how that turned out. All I can say is that Polina is very very thin right now. She will be a different lady in 4yrs.

funny. Mirai came so close to medaling in Vancouver. We all thought Mirai had tremendous potential 4yrs ago also.. look how that turned out. All I can say is that Polina is very very thin right now. She will be a different lady in 4yrs.

Edmunds has already had one growth spurt, IIRC. So maybe she won't grow much taller. Let's hope she will end up with a body type like Kostner. *fingers crossed*

As for Nagasu, she's 'unfortunate enough' to have a normal woman's body (I feel really horrible saying that but bio-dynamics is merciless) but I don't think it's just that. I think Nagasu is the victim of being taught crappy 'quick fix' jump technique when she was young because whoever her coach was back then wanted quick results to keep parents happy and keep them shelling out $$$. And she's paying the price today, struggling with under-rotations.

I know. I thought Mirai was going to be the next Yuna or Mao when I first saw her at the US Jr National. I blame her coach for not fixing her jump technique! Also I feel like she had the talent but she never work hard for it. She really hasn't improved much as far as her spins, skating skills etc. actually, I think her speed got much slower over the years.. If she still wants to keep going, maybe she can move to Japan and train with Nobuo Sato.

In USFS' defense all three of those skaters scored higher than Edmunds' result. But then Edmunds had one less element in the FS and was restricted on the choice of elements in the SP. And senior marks were inflated, relative to the junior marks.

OK; I think I just figured out the answer I was waiting for by reflecting on what you wrote:
If I understand correctly, then Cesario, Hicks and Siraj didn't compete against her when she won JN. Because they were competing in the senior event.
Everybody: THAT would have been the easy, obvious answer I was waiting for!!

I really like Polina. I liked how she got out there in her 1st Senior Nationals and attacked her program. She did not back off of anything and skated a very demanding program. I am glad that the judges are rewarding new comers when they skate well as it use to be unless you were a named skater you have to wait your turn. A lot can happen in four years and I am delighted that Gracie and Polina stepped up and skated so well. I am happy to see that they are both going to the Olympics because they are the future and the experience will be invaluable. If Gracie skates as well as she did at Nationals, she will be right up there in the mix.